First Impressions

Earlier posts on First Love and Crush v. Love explored some related aspects of this theme.  4minute's First remains a singular expression of this phenomenon, especially important as one of NJ Kpoppers "first" adventures in K-pop fandom.

There is something magical about the first exposure to any phenomenon, where all impressions are absorbed with a sense of childlike wonder and total acceptance.  Hence those impressions are deeply imprinted on the consciousness and take on an ineffaceable significance.  This bear has had the good fortune to experience many such moments when encountering new things, triggering an extremely sensitive and malleable state of mind -- new people, new places, new music, new literature, and new languages. Sometimes all of those things get rolled up together into a highly intoxicating blend!

Temujin, Timur, and other potentates

With the passing of Islam Karimov, the term of power of one Uzbek ruler has come to a close after 26 years.  Chinggis ruled for only 21 years, albeit over a much larger empire of his own creation.  Timur, on the other hand, maintained control for 35 years.

Timur had Christopher Marlowe as a publicist, but in spite of that early coup, today remains the lesser known of the world conquerors.  Perhaps that is because Temujin has better modern marketing.

Or perhaps it was his originality, practically inventing the role of world conqueror out of the thin blue sky.

Of two minds

The internet being what it is, NJ Kpopper stumbled across this page of schizophrenic art.

This art, created by actual schizophrenics, illustrates the mind being torn apart in a more than symbolic fashion. Makes you wonder if art  is more than just a simulacrum of reality... can the art become the reality in itself (en soi). I do think at least that our perception of reality is created and can be shaped by the lens we use to apprehend it.

This bear will be working with new lenses starting right now. Literary doubles have appeared and demand attention. Even if they are not completely corporeal, they are imaginatively satisfying and can be "fleshed" out.

Vive La République!

Since my entire blog audience these days is coming from France, it only seems appropriate to reflect a bit on the French influence on NJ Kpopper.  Like many bears, this one was trained in the French language in school, and that experience was the gateway to many other languages to be learned later in life.  In this post, we can only review a few brief touchstones that may be returned to for a more full discussion later on.

Seeking intellectual bonafides, NJK continued to read in French: Camus, Racine, Rostand, Balzac, and especially Racine have left traces in this bear's consciousness.  Also developed a fondess for the compact and elegant Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, which epitomizes luxury, completism, and minimalism, all in the same formal package.

Next, there is the entire universe of French film, which is worthy of 1,001 blogs (that already exist out there).  We will speak of Delphine Seyrig in an upcoming post, but in summary we will just refer to the already existing blog Adjani Films Ranked that discusses the merits of NJ Kpopper's still favorite actress, Isabelle Adjani, across the entire range of her oeuvre.

There will also be occasion to discuss Adjani's blue dress from Possession, which has taken on a life of its own in literature through an ongoing process of transmigration.

Sorry if this post is all hints, but it is impossible to truly discuss these matters without writing long essays beyond the blog format.

Chinggis Reimagined

Someone who has gone far, literally and figuratively, in nomadic searches, is Tim Cope. His book and documentary, "In Search of Genghis Khan", is about as complete of an exploration of the nomadic essence by the settled, Western mindset as it is possible to find.  This bear found that some of the most subtle observations were made deep into the video, and it helped greatly in understanding the extent and behavior of the grassland/horse/man connection among nomadic peoples, something often written about, but hard to get a handle on in the abstract.

Cope rode solo from Mongolia to Hungary through the the steppe, discovering connections between all the various nomadic peoples along the way, as well as how things changed when he arrived in Europe.  If this bear had been a freer spirit twenty years ago, he might have dreamed of such a journey himself.  But all credit goes to Cope for actually living and achieving a difficult and arduous goal. 

Now, Cope's experience is a useful waypoint in orienting the bear toward the future.  Finding a true, authentic, historical nomadic essence of the past is an admirable, but chimerical goal.  And Cope has done the work, so that we don't have to, in some sense.  Instead, we can work on developing a Mongolia of the mind (also discussed in an earlier post) where liberation is possible in a more than material sense, and the Secret Mongols of History can have their say as well. 

Время, вперёд!

Secret Mongols of History

Well, the Secret History of the Mongols gets most of the press, along with some other variant Secret Histories,

but NJ Kpopper would like more attention to be paid to the Secret Mongols of History. Because, just as with any people, there are many Mongols obscured from general acclaim who are nevertheless making their mark and shaking the foundations of the world as much as any butterfly flapping its wings could.

There are also many Mongols out there who are "passing" as something else in society. Most people would probably never notice that, but it pays to take more time to listen.  If people did, they would find Mongols, Tatars, Tuvans, even Naimans and Merkits, all nomadic souls seeking freedom under the constraints of a sedentary society . The reader is probably shaking her head, saying "He only wanted us to listen to him rave!"  But, "Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?"

Golia "junket"

One of the upsides of talking about Mongolia all of the time is that your true friends will get the hint and start bringing you Mongolian stuff.  So NJ Kpopper recently had the pleasure of sampling Golia vodka, a very smooth, premium drink, tasting as good as its marketing description telling of sextuple filtration and water from pristine mountain lakes. [Note this is not a PP - product placement!]

A bit of Googling goes a loooong way for the curious, so it was soon revealed that the presence of this vodka in the US was the product of a plutocratic romance.  According to an interview with the owner/distributor...

"It starts like this — my good friend was working in Hong Kong as a

trader, and he decided to take a junket to Mongolia. He went up on a

tour and fell in love with his tour guide, who happened to be the

Mongolian government administrator’s daughter. They got married, and

like 12 years and two kids later, he ends up owning half the country."

http://www.thedailymeal.com/goats-grains-interview-golia-vodkas-david-solomon

So, is this a cute story, or by consuming this vodka am I contributing to the wealth of a second Gulnara Karimova (Googoosha)?  The tale is a bit ominous, I am afraid.  So perhaps commenters will enlighten us and inform us if this tasty drink should be set aside for ethical reasons.  If falling in love leads to business success, is that an automatic indictment for insincerity?  Can't always be so, can it?